After a couple weeks that were light in economic releases due to the government shutdown, the flow of data has picked up substantially.

The Commerce Department said orders for long-lasting goods rose 3.7% in September, beating expectations of a 2% jump. Excluding the transportation segment, orders fell 0.1%. The reading is a somewhat lagging indicator, but it will figure into investment banks' third and fourth quarter gross domestic product estimates.

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Later, at 9:55 a.m. ET, the University of Michigan/Thomson Reuters gauge of consumer sentiment is released. Wall Street is expecting the indicator to have fallen slightly to 75 in late October from 75.2 earlier in the month. Economists will be looking to see how the partial government shutdown is affecting consumers ahead of the key holiday shopping season.

On the earnings front, United Parcel Service (UPS) revealed a bigger-than-expected increase in quarterly profits. The shipping giant is seen as an economic bellwether.